


Coming Home

by 10Blue10



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Inspired by A Christmas Carol, THWIsNotCanon, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-16 13:00:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21271436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/10Blue10/pseuds/10Blue10
Summary: A year after the dragons left, Hiccup is visited in the night by a strange red haired boy, who claims to be a him that didn’t fail. The boy tells him he will meet three people who will show him how and why he made a mistake in sending the dragons away. Hiccup witnesses his own past, the worlds present, and Berks future.When they realise the fate they’ve doomed the dragons to, Hiccup and Toothless vow to reunite not only with each other, but all the humans of Berk with their dragons. They’re all going to be coming home.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would lol. I was gonna post all the chapters at once, but screw it, I got impatient XD.

Night had fallen on the island of New Berk. Throughout the village, almost every person slept peacefully, snug and warm in their beds. Only a few souls were still awake, including the young chief, Hiccup, who lay in bed staring at the ceiling, unable to rest, lost in thought. Beside him, Astrid was deep in slumber, as if not even Ragnarok would awaken her.

Tomorrow would be a year to the day since the dragons had bid them farewell. A year since Toothless had flown out of his life. At first, Hiccup had salvaged the broken pieces of his heart by telling himself he still had Astrid, his mother, and the rest of his tribe. They had each other, and the dragons would be safe in the Hidden World. In their ancestral home.

At first he had grieved, just like when his father died, but it wasn’t the same. The dragons were alive. Berk needed a chief. So he forced himself to ignore the empty space at his side, the longing he felt to be in the sky where he _didn’t _belong, and focused on getting his people through that first tough winter, and rebuilding their village. Surely, any day now, Toothless would visit him. After all they went through, his best friend wouldn’t forget him.

Time passed, and Toothless never came. His old saddle, rig and tail fin were locked away in a chest under Hiccup’s side of the bed. It was too painful for him to look at them, but he couldn’t bring himself to get rid of them either. No matter how obvious it was that Toothless had moved on without him, Hiccup couldn’t let go of the past enough to do the same. He missed his dragon. _I miss you, bud _he thought sadly. _I miss you every single day._

Suddenly he felt an urge to get up, to have a drink of water or something. He sat up slowly and slipped out of bed, putting on his prosthetic with the ease and speed of long practice. Astrid stirred and he froze, but she didn’t wake up. With a small sigh of relief, he stood and crept out, wincing at every creak and tap as he tried to keep from disturbing his wife.

Once in the kitchen, Hiccup walked over to the tapped barrel and poured himself a flagon of ale. It might help him sleep, he thought idly. Sleep and not dream of falling like so many times before, with no Toothless there to catch him. Or worse, of flying with Toothless, only to wake up and remember…he hadn’t wanted to admit it, but they were right. As soon as he’d been able to fly on his own, and had a reason to…Toothless hadn’t needed him at all.

Hiccup felt betrayed, yet guilty for thinking that way. It wasn’t Toothless’ fault. _He _was the one who had chosen to let his best friend go. So what if Toothless was happier with the Light Fury in the Hidden World? He belonged with his own kind. Not with humans who just wanted to hurt him and use him…or who clung to him, holding him back from his true potential. Hiccup sighed. It had been a year. Why couldn’t he get over this and move on?

“Why did you do it?” asked an unfamiliar voice. Hiccup whirled, dropping the now empty flagon with a dull _thunk _on the floor. A small boy was sitting in his chair by the fire, with bright green eyes and a shock of bright red hair that stood up in all directions. “Why did you send them away?” he inquired more specifically, swinging his legs off the edge of the chair.

“Wha – who are you?”

“That’s right” the boy nodded, much to Hiccup’s bewilderment.

“But where…how did you get inside my house?” he demanded. Hiccup strode over to the door and checked it was – yes, still locked. There was no sign of forced entry, either. He looked back at the unexpected intruder. Something about him was oddly unsettling.

The boy shrugged. “Magic. And Berk. To answer your other question” he replied, confusing Hiccup further still. As far as he knew, there was no one in the tribe who looked like this. He wasn’t that bad of a Chief not to recognise one of his own people…was he? “You haven’t answered _my_ question. That’s a bit rude, you know” the boy remarked with a disapproving look.

“…What question?” Hiccup asked, confused and exasperated in equal measure.

“Why did you send the dragons away?” the boy repeated, speaking slowly as if to an idiot.

Hiccup flinched in spite of himself. “I – to keep them safe. To let them be free. Far away from humans who’ll just try to hurt and use them” he explained, for what felt like the thousandth time. And it had stung, over and over, when the questions – especially from the younger members of his tribe – had gone from “Where did the dragons go?” to “When are they coming back?” He didn’t have an answer for the second one, and he wished he did.

“You mean like you were?”

“Ye – no! We weren’t…that was different” he protested. “We weren’t _hurting _them, but…we were making them a target. Putting them at risk. It was better for them to leave.”

“Does everyone think that?” the strange child questioned. “Do they all agree with you?”

Hiccup tensed. There’d been plenty of muttered complaints, when they thought he wasn’t listening, about how _“this’d be a lot easier if we had dragons.” _Some of those complaints had been made to his face. Along with all the ones about how much work this was, and what were they going to eat, and so on. Sometimes Hiccup wanted to yell at them, _“Then why did you listen to me? Why did you go along with everything I said?” _But he didn’t.

He was the Chief now, and he had to set an example. “Yes, they do” Hiccup replied. It occurred to him as if for the first time how strange that was. Since when did Vikings agree on anything? The boy looked sceptical. _Wait a minute, what am I doing? _“Okay, look. I don’t know who you are, but I am pretty tired so maybe I’m just forgetting. Why don’t I take you back to your family and then we can both go to sleep, sound good?” he asked hopefully.

The boy replied, “You do know who I am. You said it yourself. I’m _you. _I’m Hiccup Haddock.”

“…_I’m _Hiccup Haddock.”

“Why are you copying me?”

“I wasn’t-! Look, if this is a game, it isn’t funny. It’s late, and I’m tired…” Hiccup trailed off as he realised, he didn’t feel tired at all. Was he overtired? “Come on, seriously, who are you?”

“I _told _you. I’m Hiccup Haddock the Third. Son of Stoick the Vast” the boy insisted. Since Hiccup was pretty certain that he’d never had hair that red, he didn’t exactly believe this. Frowning, puzzled, Hiccup looked closer at the child, wracking his brains to try and figure out his identity. Who did he know that had green eyes, red hair…spoke in riddles…_Wait a minute. _His eyes flickered to the fallen tankard. _Just how strong is that ale, anyway?  
_

Gulping, Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Uh…heh, heh…sorry, I uh, think you have the wrong house. You’ll want to see the Thorston twins, they’ve dedicated their”-

“I’m not him” a deeper voice replied. Hiccup blinked and froze when he found a sword point right in his face, being wielded by a man his age, still with that same scarlet hair. Now he was even surer of the strangers true identity – the shapeshifting was kind of a giveaway. “And I’m not here for them. I’m here for you. There’s something that you need to do.”

Hiccup eyed him warily. He knew doing anything this person said was a really bad idea, but at the same time, it might be the only way to get rid of him. “…What?” he asked cautiously.

The young man lowered the sword. It had the word _Endeavour _engraved on the edge. “Bring the dragons back” he ordered. “Sail to the Hidden World, find Toothless, and bring everyone’s dragons home. Stop this pathetic moping and start _fighting_ again, Hiccup.”

Of all the things Hiccup had expected, that was the last one. His heart leapt at the thought of seeing Toothless again…but he had to stay strong, for the good of dragonkind. “I can’t.”

“Why not? Is it because you can’t get down to the shore? Maybe you should have thought of that _before _you all stranded yourselves up here without dragons” the redhead drawled.

Hiccup frowned. “No” he said firmly, “I can’t bring them back because it’s not safe yet.”

That earned him an incredulous stare from the stranger. “Yet? You said, it’s not safe ‘yet’. Okay” he shrugged, “fair enough. It _isn’t_ safe, you’re right. So when will it be safe, exactly?”

“When…well, when humans are ready to live in peace with dragons” Hiccup replied. “Look, I didn’t _want _to let them go” he protested, feeling defensive for some reason. “But what I want doesn’t matter, does it? This is about the dragons. They’re safe in the Hidden World.”

The stranger – well, Hiccup was almost certain he knew who it really was, but didn’t dare say – raised an eyebrow. _Is he getting older? _“So the dragons have to hide until it’s safe to come out. In the meantime I’m sure you’re going to do everything you can to convince people to put aside their differences and welcome the dragons return with open arms. You’re only in the middle of nowhere and with no way of reaching anyone beyond here.”

Hiccup found he didn’t appreciate sarcasm so much when it was directed at him. _I wonder if this is how dad felt_. “If you have something to say, then you should just say it” he said boldly. Only to regret it a moment later, when the man glared at him and he realised that he’d just angered a trickster. The stranger had been sitting in his chair again but stood up sharply, pointing the sword at his chest again and looking insulted. “Err, wait, I meant that”-

“You want me to get to the point?” the redhead demanded. “I know who you think I am, but I’ll say it again, I’m _Hiccup. _A different Hiccup. A Hiccup that didn’t fail. I worked to bring dragons and humans together since I was thirteen years old. I got enslaved. So did my dad and my friend. I had to go into hiding. I had to fight and win a three way war with hunters on one side, a dragon rebellion on the other, and Berk and our allies in the middle.”

He looked furious. “You know what I never did? I never gave up. I spent my whole life working to bring dragons and humans together. The dragons only went into hiding, of their own accord, after I died, and it wasn’t in some ocean pit. I made sure to leave a legacy that others could follow in the footsteps of. Do you think anyone outside of Berk will have even heard of you, or believe you existed, after you’re gone?” he demanded incredulously.

Hiccup gaped at him, indignant and disturbed in equal measure. “I – what, you think I haven’t suffered? My dad _died_. My best friend was nearly killed; can you blame me for wanting him to be safe? And happy? He belongs in the Hidden World, they all do!”

The other man now looked much older than him, and even less impressed. “I could spend the rest of the night correcting that nonsense” he declared, “but I have better things to do. So here’s what will happen. You’re going to meet three people. You’ll recognise them. One will show you the past, one will show you the present, and one will show you the future. _Then _you can make your decision. I hope for the dragons sake you make the right one.”

He’d moved to the door by now, and walked out of it. Hiccup followed, running out into….

* * *

The night, but not the village. Hiccup staggered to a halt and stared, open mouthed. He…he was in the cove. Right where he first earned the trust of a dragon and everything changed. A lump formed in his throat at the familiar sight. He hadn’t seen it in so long and it was just as he remembered. The lake, the waterfall, those roots, the rock Astrid had been sitting on when…

Wait a minute. Astrid _was _sitting there; or rather, a younger version of her, with her bangs over her eye. What was she doing here at this time of night? Suddenly she looked at him, and he froze. “They’ll be back soon” she informed him, “and don’t stare at me like that, Hiccup.”

He didn’t know what to say. _You recognise me? What’s going on? I shouldn’t be here! _So many words stuck in his throat and all he could do was stammer, utterly bewildered.

Young Astrid rolled her eyes at him. “For a smart guy, you sure are slow. Didn’t he tell you what would happen?” she demanded. Then he remembered. _One will show you the past…  
_

“Astrid?” he said tentatively. “You’re…not the real Astrid, are you.” It wasn’t a question.

“Took you long enough. No one can see and hear me but you, and no one can see and hear _you_ but me. Don’t worry about messing with the past by mistake, because you can’t.”

Well, that was…reassuring. Sort of. “Why am I here, then?” he asked, “and…_when _is this?”

By way of answer, she merely pointed up at the sky. Hiccup looked up. At first he couldn’t see anything, but before he had a chance to point this out, a dark shape flicked across the sky. A silhouette he’d know anywhere…then Hiccup heard Astrid speaking. Not the one sitting on that boulder, but the one on Toothless’ back behind him…his younger self, rather. It was strange to see, even as the sight of Toothless made his heart ache with such longing.

“No, it makes sense!” she was saying eagerly, “it’s like a giant beehive! They’re the workers, and that’s their Queen. It controls them.” Hiccup realised what night this was, but he still didn’t understand why he was seeing it…reliving it? “Let’s find your dad” said Young Astrid.

“No!” cried Young Hiccup. “No, not yet. They’ll…kill Toothless. Astrid, we have to think this through, carefully.”

She stopped and stared at him. “Hiccup, we just discovered the dragon’s nest. The thing we’ve been after since Vikings first sailed here. And you want to keep it a secret? To protect your pet dragon, are you serious?!” she demanded, incredulous. It quickly vanished when he turned to look her in the eyes, his own gaze hard and determined, completely serious.

“Yes” he said simply, but with so much conviction that Young Astrid was nearly speechless.

Not-Astrid commented, “It was impressive, you know. I’d never seen you like that before.”

Hiccup looked at her instead of their younger selves. “Why are you showing me this?”

“Do I have to spell it out for you?” she asked. “Think about it. What did you do, just then?”

“I…I told you I wanted to protect Toothless.”

“But it’s more than that. You stood up to me, for something – someone you believed in. When I first came to this cove, I was walking all over you! And that was just the first time.” She hopped off the rock and walked over to him. “Now let me show you the other times” said Not-Astrid, holding her hand out. With some trepidation, he reached out and took it.

* * *

The world around them shifted, rushing past as if the night had speeded up and become day in an instant. Before he knew it, Hiccup found himself in the arena. It was surrounded by the entire tribe, and his eyes fell immediately on the man seated in the throne-like chair on the edge. Once again his throat closed up at the sight of someone long missed. _Dad…_

So focused was he on Stoick that Hiccup didn’t watch his younger self walk into the arena and pick up a small knife from the selection of weapons on the board. Only when Hookfang burst out of the cage in flames did he start paying attention. Young Hiccup stood very still as the dragon tried to escape the arena. Then Hookfang turned his attention to the small skinny Viking, and began prowling towards him. The crowd watched with baited breath.

Young Hiccup slowly retreated, dropping first his dagger, then his shield. The other Vikings frowned and murmured in confusion. “It’s okay” Young Hiccup said carefully, “it’s okay.” He reached up, grasped his helmet…and tossed it aside. “I’m not one of them” he declared.

The crowd gasped. Hookfang glanced from the discarded helmet to Hiccup and back, eyes widening. Stoick leaned forwards and ordered into the stunned silence, “Stop the fight.”

“No! I need you all to see this” Young Hiccup insisted, reaching out towards Hookfang. “They’re not what we think they are. We don’t have to kill them.” He was so close…

“I said _stop the fight!_” Stoick thundered, slamming his hammer onto the railing. The loud noise startled Hookfang and set him on the attack, snapping and snarling at Young Hiccup.

The older version yelled “No!” and rushed forwards, forgetting himself. “Hookfang, stop!” He leapt between his younger self and the angry Nightmare, but the dragon charged right through him, and all he saw was a crimson blur. Of course, he wasn’t really there, was he? Even though Hiccup remembered what had happened, and knew he’d obviously survived, seeing his younger self desperately trying to escape and so terrified was difficult to watch.

Not-Astrid came up beside him. “He’ll be fine. Toothless comes to save him, remember?”

“I know, but…” he looked away from the struggling boy and said “I stood up to you…and just then, I was standing up to the village. That’s the connection, isn’t it?” he realised.

She nodded. “You’re getting it. C’mon, there’s more.” She held her hand out again. Hiccup swallowed and took hold of it. Once again their surroundings rushed by, and they ended up in the Great Hall. Young Hiccup was already there, trying to talk to a furious Stoick the Vast.

“Take this out on me, be mad at me, but please, just don’t hurt Toothless!”

“The dragon? _That’s _what you’re worried about? Not the people you almost killed?!”

“He was just protecting me! He’s _not _dangerous!”

“They’ve killed _hundreds _of us!”

“And we’ve killed _thousands _of them!” Young Hiccup shouted, “They defend themselves, that’s all!” He began to explain why the dragons raided, only to accidentally reveal he’d found the dragon’s nest. Then he desperately tried to backtrack and convince Stoick he was making a terrible mistake. “For once in your life would you please just _listen to me?!_”

Stoick shrugged him off so hard he fell to the floor. “You’ve thrown your lot in with them” the Chief declared, sounding betrayed. “You’re not a Viking. You’re not my son.” Then he walked out of the door, leaving Young Hiccup alone and despairing in the shadowed Hall.

Hiccup – the older Hiccup – turned to Not-Astrid. “Why are you showing me this?” he asked. “Okay, yeah, I stood up to my dad. Then look what happened. I got disowned.”

“It didn’t last, though.”

“That’s not the point! Is this…are you just showing me these memories as a…a punishment?” he demanded, wondering if this was _His _idea of a twisted joke. Not-Astrid merely looked at him, and wordlessly held out her hand. _Here we go again, _he thought.

* * *

This time they ended up above the docks, next to Young Hiccup and Young Astrid, the latter of whom was talking. “You said _wouldn’t _that time” she noted, giving him a pointed look.

“Whatever!” Young Hiccup snapped, “I wouldn’t! Three hundred years, and I’m the first Viking who wouldn’t kill a dragon!”

“First to ride one, though” Young Astrid pointed out, “So…?”

“…..I wouldn’t kill him because he looked as frightened as I was” Young Hiccup replied. He turned to her and said solemnly, “I looked at him..and I saw myself.”

“I bet he’s really frightened now. What are you going to do about it?”

“Eh”, he shrugged, “probably something stupid.”

“Good, but you’ve already done that.”

“…Then something crazy” he said, getting an idea and running off.

Young Astrid grinned. “That’s more like it!” she declared, hurrying after him. Watching them go, Hiccup found he couldn’t help but smile. _Thanks, Astrid _he thought fondly.

Not-Astrid stepped up beside him. “One more” she said quietly, reaching out to take his hand. Everything around them blurred and resolved into the beach of Dragon Island. It was the middle of the battle, his friends were trying to distract the Red Death, and his younger self was soaking wet, watching his father dive back into the ocean to rescue Toothless.

Young Hiccup struggled to their feet – and it finally dawned on him why this was so odd to watch, it felt _weird _seeing himself with all four limbs intact. Then Toothless burst out of the water, carrying Stoick, and set him down before landing on a rock and gesturing to Hiccup.

“You got it, bud.” Young Hiccup nodded decisively and ran over to get in the saddle. He was attaching the safety straps as Stoick came over, eyed warily by Toothless but not attacked.

“Hiccup” he said, voice hoarse. “I’m sorry. For….for everything.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“You don’t have to go up there” Stoick told him. Young Hiccup just smiled.

“We’re Vikings. It’s an occupational hazard” he reminded his father.

Stoick squeezed his hand. “I’m _proud_ to call you my son” he said firmly, taking back the disowning entirely. Young Hiccup swallowed, clearly touched.

“Thanks, dad.” Stoick stepped back as boy and dragon braced themselves and sprang into the air. Hiccup couldn’t help but cheer; it wasn’t over yet, but he knew they would do it!

“You get it now” Not-Astrid noted approvingly. His grin faded as he looked at her, confused, and she rolled her eyes at him. “Or maybe not. Come on Hiccup, think. You’re a clever guy. What do all these memories have in common?” she asked him. He thought about it. They all involved Toothless in some way, and they were all significant because…of what he did.

First he’d stood up to Astrid, then the village, then his father. The last attempt hadn’t gone well, and he almost despaired…but he didn’t. He’d needed a push, but he’d persevered. “They’re all times…I didn’t give up” he said aloud, “because Toothless needed me.”

“Exactly! You don’t give up. That’s not you. Hiccup, you are the bravest, most stubborn, most determined knucklehead I know. So what changed?” she pressed. “What changed?”

He didn’t have to ask what she was talking about. “I…that’s different” he protested.

“Different, how?”

“Because! I..look, Berk was one thing, but the whole world was against us, our enemies were getting more dangerous…there would just be another Drago, another Grimmel…at least this way, I could keep everyone safe. My people, our dragons…all of them. I didn’t give up, I just…” Hiccup trailed off with a helpless shrug. Deep down he knew the truth; he _had _given in, and chose the easy way out rather than take the risk. “I wanted him to be safe.”

For a few moments, there was silence. “But Hiccup…don’t you see?” Not-Astrid said tentatively. “Berk is _part of _the world. The world is huge, and yeah, it is dangerous. It’s a mess. But things won’t change – _people _won’t change – unless someone stands up for what’s right. There will always be people like Grimmel, but what about all of the Erets’?”

“I get it” she went on, “you thought it was for the best. I don’t blame you for wanting to take the easy way out. But Hiccup…sending the dragons away wasn’t your decision to make. There’s a lot you don’t know about what’s going on out there, in the world” she said.

Foreboding trickled down the back of Hiccup’s neck. “Like…like what?” he asked warily.

Not-Astrid shook her head. “Not my job to show you that” she declared, and vanished.

“Wait, what?” Hiccup cried, alarmed. “Come back!” He took a single step forward, and the ground beneath his feet disappeared. Down he plunged into the darkness, screaming…


	2. Chapter 2

Hiccup jerked with a gasp, almost falling out of bed. His old bed, in fact. He was in his old room; just like the cove, everything looked just the way he recalled. Except that Toothless’ slab was missing. Unsettled, he breathed heavily, trying to get his bearings. Clearly, the nightmare or hallucinations or whatever was happening to him hadn’t ended just yet.

This was his home, and yet he felt like an outsider. He should have felt safe, but instead he was nervous. It made no sense. Suddenly, he heard someone moving about downstairs. Hiccup listened hard as footsteps crossed the room below…a fire crackled…he heard a soft _shhhk shhhk shhhk _noise over and over. It was familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. Forgetting they wouldn’t hear him, Hiccup quietly moved off the bed and over to the door.

He opened it slowly, and peeked out down the stairs. There in the large seat by the fire sat his father, engrossed in whittling something. He wasn’t facing Hiccup, who finally remembered that no one could see or hear him. The relief was bittersweet, because part of him _wanted _to be seen. Carefully, he crept downstairs and slowly approached Stoick’s chair.

_Shhhk, shhhk, shhhk, _went the whittling knife. “Hiccup” said Stoick. He froze on the spot.

“Stop skulking about and come here” his father ordered. Hiccup glanced around quickly, wondering if Stoick was talking to a younger version of himself. No…they were the only two people in the room. Hesitantly, he walked around to stand in front of his dad. _Shhhk, shhhk. _

“…Dad?” he prompted cautiously. Stoick stopped whittling and glanced up at him. “Y-you can see me?” he asked, hardly daring to hope. Hiccup couldn’t think of him as ‘Not-Stoick.’

“Aye. I’m looking at you right now, ain’t I?” his dad remarked impatiently, gesturing to him.

“B-but…you’re not…oh, gods…” Hiccup shook his head, starting to break down, rambling in a panic. “I’m so sorry, dad, I should have listened to you, but I didn’t and now you’re” –

“I know” Stoick said firmly. At some point he’d stood up from his chair and now loomed over Hiccup. “I know what happened to me” he declared, his gaze piercing and voice stern.

Hiccup cringed. “Y-you do?” he asked, wishing the ground would open up and swallow him.

Stoick nodded solemnly. “And you know what?” he asked. Hiccup thought he might have replied “What?” but it came out in a whimper. “I’m so _proud_ of you” his father announced.

“Huh?” This was Hiccup’s eloquent response, because that was not what he’d expected.

“You heard me!” Stoick beamed, clapping his hands onto Hiccup’s shoulders. “You did exactly what I would have done. You protected our people and stepped up to lead them. For what it’s worth, son – I don’t blame you. Or Toothless, either. It wasn’t your faults.”

Until that very moment, Hiccup had _no idea _how much he needed to hear that. Without thinking he threw his arms around Stoick’s waist and held on tight. “I missed you, dad.”

“I miss you too. And your mother” Stoick assured him. “Well, you’re the Chief of Berk now! How’s that going?” he asked eagerly, grinning down at Hiccup. “Tell me all about it.”

“….Oh, uh, fine. I-It’s going great” Hiccup said quickly. “Yep. Everyone’s…safe. Oh, and err, Astrid and I finally got married a year ago” he added quickly. “About time, right?” 

“Good, good. That’s what I like to hear” Stoick nodded happily. He squeezed Hiccup’s shoulders. “You should be very proud of yourself too, Hiccup. You’ve joined a long line of great chieftains, men who led and defended Berk’s people for generations before us, and will do so for generations after us. I hope our tribe lives on this island for years to come.”

“…Mm-hm” Hiccup nodded quickly in agreement, back to wishing he could disappear. He couldn’t tell his dad about leaving Berk; Stoick would be so angry, and heart-broken, and…Hiccup paused. The redhead and Not-Astrid’s words came back to him at last. _One will show you the present…not my job to do that…_if his dad could see and hear him, then he must be the one meant to show Hiccup the present, whatever that meant. So then why…?

Gulping, he tentatively asked, “Err, dad? Just out of curiosity…y’know how Berk is more than just the island, it’s the people, our tribe, and there are…other islands…when you think about it, Berk is wherever we are. So, uh, if we were to…leave…how mad would you be?”

Stoick frowned. “You mean if our tribe left Berk? The island we lived and worked and bled upon for seven generations? Well, there’d have to be a damn good reason for it, or I’d be furious” he replied. Hiccup cringed. Then Stoick brightened unexpectedly. “Oh, I get it. You’re asking about worst case scenarios. Well, what do you think would make us leave?”

“To…to keep the dragons safe?” Hiccup suggested, quickly adding “To keep everyone safe. B-because we were under attack…and there were too many of them…and overcrowding.”

Stoick’s brow furrowed. “Under attack from whom? We held up against attacks from the dragons for years, didn’t we? And now they’re on our side. What couldn’t we fend off?”

“Yeah, b-but a lot of people would get hurt, or killed, and I – I didn’t want that to happen.”

“We’re _Vikings, _son. It’s an occupational hazard” Stoick remarked. “How else are we supposed to get to Valhalla? And I’m sorry – you didn’t want that to happen? Son, you’re talking as if you’ve already left Berk. You know you’re a terrible liar. What happened?”

Hiccup couldn’t take it anymore. “Drago’s army was hunting dragons and we kept rescuing them, and they came to Berk because Toothless was the Alpha, there were too many of them but it wasn’t safe and I remembered you telling me about the Hidden World, and then the army came for Berk and all our dragons, and I thought if we could find the Hidden World then all of us would be safe, but only the dragons belong there so we let them go.”

Stoick stared at him, disbelieving and disapproving. “The dragons are gone? All of them?”

Hiccup cringed. “I’m sorry, I know you’re mad, I don’t blame you. I-I just wanted to…I was trying to do the right thing, I didn’t know what else to do” he rambled desperately.

“Son.” A single word, and Hiccup clamped his mouth shut. “I’m not mad. I’m just disappointed” Stoick sighed. That only made it worse. “Not about Berk. I always knew that one day we’d have to move on, when the island could no longer support us. I just didn’t think it would be this soon…and I never thought you’d send the dragons away, either.”

_Neither did I _Hiccup thought helplessly, head low in shame. He swallowed and tried to explain, “I was trying to do what you…see, there was this Light Fury. Toothless fell in love with her, and he was King of the Hidden World…somehow…” He wasn’t sure how that had happened, it all went by so fast – “and I just wanted him to be happy, because I loved him. You told me when I was little, remember? How love comes with loss, but it’s worth it.”

“Aye” Stoick nodded slowly, “It does. And it is. But I thought your mother had died” he reminded Hiccup. “She was taken from me. And imagine if, because I’d lost my wife, I made everyone else say goodbye to theirs?” he asked. “What sort of Chief would I be then?”

Hiccup gulped. “You wouldn’t do that” he protested, “and neither would I! Honest, the others, I didn’t force them to say goodbye to their dragons. They just…followed my lead.”

“Because they trust you. I suppose the other dragons trust Toothless, if he’s their Alpha.”

That gave Hiccup pause. He remembered how Toothless had used his Alpha status to…to send his flock into cages…he’d been trying to protect the Light Fury, but what Stoick said, about not making everyone else suffer just because you were struggling, made so much sense. Hiccup didn’t _want _to believe Toothless was a bad Alpha, but Toothless _had _left the flock to go find the Light Fury, and it didn’t seem like he wanted to come back afterwards…

A hand on his shoulder startled him out of his thoughts. “Come on, son. There’s something you need to see” Stoick told him. Before his eyes, the room around him rippled and faded.

* * *

When the blurring stopped, they were standing outside on a unfamiliar island, a volcano, old lava cold and hard beneath their feet. Withered, blackened trees were visible on the shoreline. The air was warm; much warmer than in the archipelago. “W-where are we?”

“Far from home” Stoick replied solemnly. “That waterfall you found isn’t the only way into the Hidden World. There are others, and somehow, all the dragons around them were summoned as well. Including this one” he said, gesturing to a strange lump of stone embedded in the cooled lava. It was half-melted from the heat, just barely recognisable as a Boulder Class dragon of some kind. “It’s called an Eruptodon. They eat magma. The tribe that lived here worshiped it, called it their Great Protector. When it left, the magma rose.”

Hiccup stared at his father in bewilderment and dismay. _How do you know all this? _He wondered. Then Stoick’s words caught up with him and he looked down, unable to help picturing a village buried beneath his feet. “The…tribe. The people that lived here, did they…?” Hiccup trailed off, unable to bring himself to say it. “Did they escape in time?”

Stoick nodded. “Aye. There are other islands. But still, this place is just land, isn’t it?”

“No” Hiccup shook his head slowly, helplessly, “it was their home.” A home they’d been forced to abandon, indirectly because of him. Hiccup felt sick. He thought…he’d told his tribe they were being _selfless, _making a noble sacrifice for the good of the dragons at the cost of their own happiness. Instead, in his ignorance – and his arrogance - he’d caused a tribe on the other side of the world to become homeless. Who knew what else he’d done?

With a deep breath, Hiccup met his father’s eyes. “Show me the rest. Please” he begged. A sudden repentant urge had seized him, to truly see the damage he’d done with his actions.

* * *

Stoick obliged. One by one, he showed Hiccup all the ways in which the loss of dragons was causing suffering across the world. There were places where people were living in poverty; harsh as it was they relied, at least somewhat, on the trade of dragon parts for their economy. The absence of dragons meant that the price would rise, and the hunters take more risks but for higher reward, whilst those who couldn’t afford to pay would suffer. 

Whole ecosystems had formed where, without the dragons to keep their populations in check, large herbivores would breed and devour too much vegetation, leaving not enough for smaller creatures. Food chains were unbalanced without the top predators. There had not yet been time enough for the effects to really take hold, but Hiccup wasn’t stupid. He could put the pieces together and figure out how bad things could get if this continued.

He saw a culture on the other side of the world that worshipped dragons, believing them to be divine beings. In the splendid capital city of this land, the citizens were panicking and rioting because the mysterious disappearance of their sacred dragons seemed like an ill omen from the gods. The dragons were seen as a sign that their Emperor had the Blessing of the Gods; with them gone, he would lose favour, and the empire would start to fall.

If it was like this on the surface, what about in the Hidden World? Hiccup didn’t need to see it to know how much chaos must be going on down there. Even on Berk, back when he’d foolishly tried to keep all the dragons they rescued there, fights had broken out over food and territory. “I don’t understand” he said, “how can Toothless have summoned them all? They were so far away…” He didn’t want to believe that his friend caused this on purpose.

I don’t know” Stoick admitted. “Some strange magic of the Hidden World, perhaps.” Hiccup almost said there was no such thing, until he remembered who he was talking to, and why.

“I really messed up, didn’t I?” he asked rhetorically. “But dad, I don’t know what to… I don’t know if I can fix this. There are still hunters out there, people still fear and hate dragons…it feels like the whole world is against us. I want to change it, but I – I don’t know how.”

“You change it one bit at a time. It is daunting” his father agreed. “Changing things is slow, hard, and painful. There will always be the Mildews and Dragos and Grimmels of the world to deal with, and you won’t always win every battle. People are going to get hurt, you’ll have to take risks, and most days it’s going to feel like you’re banging your head on a rock.”

“….Dad. No offence, but you’re still really bad at giving me pep talks.”

“I wasn’t finished. It’s hard, but you keep trying. Because it’s the right thing to do; because if you don’t stand up for the dragons, then who will? Because you’re my son, and I didn’t raise a quitter. Or a coward” Stoick insisted firmly. Hiccup managed a small rueful smile. “That’s the spirit! Come on. There’s one more place I want to show you. You’ll like it.”

Hiccup was doubtful, but he trusted his dad. It was funny how at ease he felt around the man, considering Stoick was supposed to be dead. Hiccup knew, or at least suspected, that the younger version of Astrid who’d shown him his own memories wasn’t the real one. In this case…well, could anyone blame him if he wanted to believe this was really his father?

When the blurring ceased, they were standing on the edge of what at first he thought was the sea. Then he saw mountains on the other side, and how calm the water was. It was a massive lake, the biggest he’d ever seen. The sky above was a blaze of stars, and the full moon hovered over its rippling reflection. Hiccup turned to Stoick, mouth half open ready to ask where they were. Stoick had a finger pressed to his lips and a grin on his face.

He pointed up at the dark sky and simply said, “Watch, son.” Confused, Hiccup did so. At first he couldn’t see anything – except for the stars and a few clouds – but then, a familiar silhouette darted across the sky. His eyes widened. Another, over there; two dragons raced across the sky, soaring over the lake, diving down to skim the water. They came to a landing not far away, scales pitch coloured and eyes a brilliant green on one, yellow on the other.

It was only when Stoick pushed his chin up that Hiccup realised his jaw had dropped. “Night Furies…” he breathed, staring at them in awe as they drank from the lake and groomed themselves. Despite knowing the dragons couldn’t see, hear or smell him, Hiccup didn’t want to disturb them. They were _beautiful_. “I don’t get it” he murmured, “Grimmel said…”

“What, that he’d killed them all?” Stoick scoffed. “He lied, son. That’s what his sort do. Anything to make you afraid, to make you doubt. It’s easier, you know, to make the other guy think he’s wrong, than to really be right. If someone has to bully or threaten or trick others into believing what they say…well, they’re not very convincing then, are they?”

“You’ve just seen how big the world really is. Do you honestly think one man could have gone round the whole of it? And killed off Night Furies, no less; have you seen what those dragons can do?” Stoick asked rhetorically. Hiccup chuckled slightly in spite of himself. “Do you know what you gave me, when you and Toothless ended the war?” This question was genuine, but Hiccup shook his head. “Hope. For a better world; now I want to give it back.”

To see living Night Furies meant more than he could ever say. “Thanks, dad” he murmured. “And I – I’m sorry. For everything. I’ll make this right, I promise. I’ll make you proud.”

Stoick smiled down at him, eyes full of pride and love. “Ah, son. I _am_ proud of you. I didn’t say it enough when it mattered, but I _love_ you. And I’ll always be here” the former chief remarked, tapping his knuckles against Hiccup’s chest, over his heart. “Give your mother all my love. And tell Gobber it was an honour.” Hiccup nodded. “That’s my boy. Remember, the world needs a lot more of _this_” Stoick declared, gesturing to – well, all of Hiccup.

The familiar words made him sob and laugh at the same time. Then tears came to Hiccup’s eyes. He knew in his bones that this would be the last time he saw his father until the Valkyries came for him. “…Don’t go…” he pleaded. _Just a little bit longer…_His father wordlessly pulled him into an embrace. Hiccup sniffled and buried his face in Stoick’s beard.

“Goodbye, dad” he murmured at last. If it was his last chance to say it…“I love you, too.”

“Three hundred years” he said cryptically. Before Hiccup could ask what that meant, his father vanished. Then the ground beneath his feet disappeared, and he fell down, down…

* * *

Hiccup hit the ground with a thud. Winded, he struggled to his feet. “Ow…where…?” He looked around, trying to get his bearings. This was…the beach on New Berk, where Toothless had first tried to court the Light Fury. Why had he been sent here? “Hello?”

Someone was supposed to show him the…future. Hiccup didn’t really understand why; he got it, he’d messed up, just let him wake so he could fix it! He looked around. There was no sign of anyone waiting for him. Confused, Hiccup wondered if he was supposed to go back to the village. He climbed up the bank to the tree line and headed off. Then he heard a growl, and froze. Slowly, he turned. On the beach behind him stood “….Toothless?”

The dragon stared at him with slit pupilled eyes. Hiccup’s heart leapt into his throat, suddenly afraid. He never thought he’d face this again, even if Toothless hadn’t left. “No…Toothless, buddy, it’s me. It’s Hiccup! Y-you remember me, right?” he asked nervously, taking a step backwards. Toothless advanced, snarling. “It’s me! Your – your best friend…come on bud, come back to me…” Hiccup begged. No response. He turned and fled.

Hiccup ran as fast as he could through the trees, despite knowing that if Toothless attacked, there would be nothing he could do. His ears strained for the tell tale whine of a Night Fury fire blast. There was no sound, but he _could _hear paws racing behind him. Terrified, he dashed out into the village, and scrambled to hide behind the first building he spotted.

Panting, he looked around as he caught his breath. The village looked different. The houses were normal enough, but…Where were the dragon carvings? Why did the Great Hall have a cross on top of the roof? There were people going to and fro, dressed in warm clothes, yet without a single horned helmet in sight. Or any helmets, or weapons, or armour. Hiccup walked to the square. Two men passed in front of him carrying lumber, and behind them…

Toothless stood in the shadow of an alley opposite him, staring unnaturally. Hiccup was rooted to the spot. His throat was dry. Rather than stalk or attack, the Night Fury looked from him to the doors of the Great Hall and back. “Y-you want me to go in there?” he asked hesitantly. “O-okay, bud. If you say so…” Hiccup nervously edged towards the doors.

Inside, the Hall was unrecognisable. Rather than trestle tables, there were instead rows of wooden benches, with a walkway down the middle. Candles were lit in sconces, and on the dais where the chieftains chair….his chair…would sit, at the high table, there was an altar, a stone bowl and a sort of podium. Behind the altar was a carving of a man being crucified. Hiccup realised this place wasn’t a Hall anymore – it was a _church, _for a different religion.

“Who’s that?” an unfamiliar voice asked. Hiccup nearly jumped out of his skin and whirled around, staring open-mouthed at the young boy who was apparently looking right at him.

The man who must have been the boy’s father replied “That is Saint Hiccup.” Before he could ask _You can see me?! _or protest _I’m not a saint_, the man continued, “He’s the one who banished dragons from this world, so no one would live in fear of the demons again.”

_Banished dragons? _Hiccup was appalled. _Demons? _Dragons weren’t demons, and he hadn’t banished them, he…he’d…_sent them all underground to ‘protect’ them. _At last, Hiccup realised that this father and son were looking at something behind him. He turned to see what looked like a painting made of…glass? It was stylised, but it depicted what was supposed to be him, apparently, standing over the fallen form of a Night Fury. _Toothless._

Suddenly, the eyes of the dragon in the glass painting opened. Hiccup screamed and leapt back in shock. He half-expected the image to come to life and lunge at him. That didn’t happen, but he was spooked enough to flee the church. Hiccup’s heart was racing and so was his mind. His father’s words made sense now. Three hundred years…into the future.

Thinking of Stoick made him jolt. The statue! They’d carved a grand statue in honour of their great lost Chief, and now Hiccup ran to it, hoping it was still there. It was…or at least, _most _of it. His dad’s effigy had fallen into disrepair, weathered away and covered in lichen. Chunks of it appeared to have been broken off deliberately. If he didn’t know what it was supposed to look like, he wouldn’t have recognised it. Hiccup stared at it in utter dismay.

Berk had changed. A new religion was the norm, that believed dragons were demons and that he had banished them – which he _had, _that was the worst part. He’d not thought of it like that at the time, but what did it matter? His father’s legacy was forgotten, his own was tainted. Hiccup couldn’t even imagine what the rest of the world would be like now. Then a terrible thought occurred to him – what about the dragons? Trapped in the Hidden World?

They must still be down there, if people believed he’d banished them. Hiccup wanted to believe they’d come back, but in his gut he knew they wouldn’t have. After all, if they did, humans would still fear them, not understand them. They would attack the dragons, who would defend themselves, and the cycle would start all over again. All because he’d been too selfish, too _stupid_, to think about the consequences of his actions! It was all his fault…

He hadn’t meant to, though. Hiccup didn’t know his choice would have such far reaching consequences…he’d been the one to suggest the dragons left for the Hidden World, but _Toothless _had been the one to…he blinked, and the Night Fury was there. Watching him.

“….How could you?” he whispered, mouth dry. Toothless didn’t respond. “How _could_ you?” Hiccup repeated, louder. “Why? Why take _all _dragons away from their homes, why not let them go back! They’re suffering, I know they are. Toothless, how could – how could you leave?” he demanded. “After all we went through, you and me…did it even matter? Did I mean _anything _to you?” Silence. “Did you even care?! And stop staring at me!” he yelled.

Toothless stalked towards him. Hiccup wanted to flee, but he couldn’t move. “Stop it. You’re scaring me!” he cried desperately. The dragon didn’t pause, but he wasn’t making any attempt to fire. Toothless didn’t need to be right on top of him to attack; he could take Hiccup out from a distance. _He wouldn’t _some tiny voice in the back of Hiccup’s mind whispered. _He’d never hurt me. _No. Toothless wouldn’t, but this wasn’t really Toothless.

Not-Toothless continued to advance, and at last Hiccup’s brain got the message to _move_. He retreated step by step, unwilling to turn his back on his friend – on a threat – he didn’t know. What if this _was _Toothless, or his – his ghost – and he’d forgotten Hiccup after all this time? “Please. You _know _me! You don’t remember, but we were friends. Best friends!”

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and a tremor ran down his spine. He could step back no further. Reflexively, he looked over his shoulder – and felt a sudden rush of vertigo. Without even realising, he’d been transported from New Berk to the entrance…one of the entrances to the Hidden World. The edge of the sea – or rather, a very deep, very dark pit.

He and Not-Toothless were on the rocks and mud banks around the rim. The waves surged up to it, spilling over, but the waterfall was not there. _The tide’s rising _Hiccup realised. He looked at the Night Fury and questioned “Now what? I don’t understand, what am I supposed to do? Give me a sign, or something!” Toothless’ gaze shifted to the pit behind him. “…You…want me to go down there?” he asked, staring down into the darkness.

“I…I can’t. It’s too deep, I’ll be killed!” Hiccup protested. Maybe that was exaggerating – this was a dream. Probably. On the very slim chance that it _wasn’t_…Funny how a year ago, he’d have willingly jumped off the edge, trusting Toothless wholeheartedly to catch him. Now…

Before he could even start to work up the courage, Hiccup felt claws wrap around his shoulders and his feet leave the ground. He yelled as they plummeted downwards; then Not-Toothless levelled off and glided through a tunnel, Hiccup dangling beneath him. The thrill of flying again was offset by his discomfort and humiliation at being carried like this.

The Hidden World was beautiful as ever, but now it seemed like a shine on rot. At last, Not-Toothless hovered and released him. Hiccup tumbled to the ground, winded but unhurt. His heart beating wildly in trepidation, he crawled to the edge of the outcropping, and looked down at the – the central chamber of this part of the Hidden World. The one with that huge white crystal that Toothless had been coronated on. Before, it had looked like a paradise.

Now it looked like Helheim. Gone was the crowd of roaring, bowing dragons – instead, skeletons littered the ground. They had starved or been killed because of the shortage of food. Over there, two Deathgrippers were fighting over the corpse of a Nadder or Scuttleclaw. Holes were pockmarked everywhere from tunnelling Whispering Deaths, most of them collapsed in on themselves. The mushrooms were gone, devoured or burned away.

Hiccup stared in horror. He wanted to throw up, but there was nothing in his stomach, and he only dry heaved. The Hidden World. A secret haven for dragons. _Yeah, right. _It was nothing more than a shiny, gilded cage and he’d sent them all right into it. To their doom.

“I get it” he said aloud. “I get it, okay! Lesson learned, point made! I fucked up!” Hiccup was yelling now, standing up. “I’ll bring them back! I don’t know how but I’ll try! Just let me…I just wanna go home” he said helplessly. His eyes were closed. When he opened them again, the world had shifted once more. He was at the foot of that huge crystal, and at his feet…

The sight made his mouth fall open in a silent scream. A Night Fury skeleton – the shape of the skull was unmistakable. Against his will, Hiccup’s gaze was drawn inexorably towards the tail. On the right side, thin spurs of bone, bleached and brittle. On the left side, thin rods of metal, rusted and bent out of shape, all trace of the leather long since rotted away.

Hiccup dropped to his knees. “I did this” he whispered. Head bowed, tears streaming down his face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want this. I just…” he choked back a sob. “When I first saw you here, you looked so happy with her. You looked like you were _home._” Hiccup sniffled, and finally confessed “You broke my heart that day. I didn’t have it in me to break yours.”


	3. Chapter 3

Silence, and then…the softest of coos, and a gentle nudge against his forehead. Hiccup gasped, pulling back to see… “Toothless…?” he whispered, stunned and tentative. The black dragon in front of him did not glare through slit pupils; they were rounded and full of concern. _He’s alive…._Slowly, Hiccup raised a shaking hand to Toothless’ snout. The dragon crooned again, and gently pressed his nose against Hiccup’s palm. He breathed out again. 

The next thing he knew, Hiccup was throwing himself at Toothless, wrapping his arms around the dragons thick neck and clinging on tighter than tight. Whatever dam had been holding back his tears crumbled and he sobbed into the warm black scales. Toothless sat back on his haunches, wrapped his forepaws and wings around his human, and rocked. 

Hiccup drew in a shuddering breath. “I missed you” he choked out. “I missed you so much.” 

He wasn’t expecting a response; at least, not one he understood. So when he heard a voice, clear as day, reply *I missed you too. Every day. I’m so sorry, Hiccup*, his eyes widened. Pulling back only enough to see Toothless’ face, he exclaimed “Did…did you just _talk_?” 

Toothless’ ear flaps twitched in surprise. *You _heard _me?!* he asked, without actually speaking aloud. It was more like he was _thinking _out loud – literally. *You can hear me?* 

“Um, yes?” Hiccup answered. He promptly found himself being bowled over and licked to death, but found he didn’t care. Toothless bounced around him, barking gleefully. *You can hear me! You can hear me, you can hear me, you* - he paused. *How can you hear me?* 

Hiccup was grinning ear to ear, so hard it hurt. He was just as thrilled and confused as his dragon. “I have absolutely no idea” he admitted, “but this whole night has been crazy, just add it to the pile…” His smile, his joy at reuniting and actually _talking _with Toothless, faded as he remembered it all. Hiccup glanced around, but there was no sign of any skeletons. It was just him and Toothless, who crept over to him cautiously. *Hiccup? Are you okay?* 

A thousand questions clamoured to be asked at once and stuck in Hiccup’s throat. He swallowed and asked the most pressing, most painful one. “Why didn’t you come back?” 

The dragon whimpered, and lay down submissively in front of him. *I wanted to* he whined. *I missed you so much. I just…thought it was better if I stayed away. I’m sorry.* 

Hiccup curled up beside Toothless, leaning against his shoulder. “Better how?” he wondered. “I…I know you were in love with the Light Fury, but I thought you’d visit…” 

*…I didn’t go because of Lumina* Toothless told him. *We left because those hunters came for us – me and the other dragons – so I thought, if we went to the Hidden World, like you wanted us to, then we’d be safe from hunters, and you’d be safe from them too* he explained. *Bad humans wouldn’t attack Berk for dragons if none of us were around.*

Toothless’ words made his jaw drop. “You…you left to keep us safe?” he repeated. “I was trying to keep _you _safe. Only…you aren’t, are you?” he frowned. “I mean, you’re safe from hunters down there, but not from each other. Toothless, why did you summon _every _dragon?” he couldn’t help but question. “The whole world is out of balance now, with all the dragons in the world gone…what?” He finally noticed Toothless’ confused expression. 

*All of them? Hiccup…I didn’t summon _every _dragon to the Hidden World. I don’t think I could have done that even if I wanted to. I was only the Alpha of the dragons on Berk.* 

Hiccup’s brow furrowed. “No, but…I saw it. Dad showed me all the places where things were going wrong because the dragons had left…um, I’ve been having a weird night.” He told Toothless about the red haired boy, and how he’d been shown the past by Not-Astrid, the present by Stoick’s ghost and the bad future by Not-Toothless to convince him to bring back the dragons. “That wasn’t really you, though…was it? Because it really scared me.” 

*No, I wouldn’t frighten you like that. To be honest, I’ve been having the same dream. Or whatever this is…only I got pestered by a Terrible Terror with a bad stammer. But I don’t _understand_.* Toothless looked distressed. *I didn’t summon all those dragons, I couldn’t have, so who…?* He’d risen to his paws and began pacing back and forth, tail lashing in agitation. Suddenly he stopped, eyes going wide in realisation, and snarled. *Beast!* 

“What?” Hiccup asked, flinching a bit. Toothless quickly gave him a reassuring nuzzle. “I’m okay, bud; you just startled me” he murmured, stroking the dragon. “Who’s ‘Beast’?” 

*Drago’s Sea-Giant. I think _he’s _the one who summoned them all. And he’s keeping them from leaving too - I’ve seen dragons fly to the waterfall but they always come back. It must be affecting me, too, and I didn’t even notice! No wonder I didn’t try to come back to you!* 

“I don’t get it. You challenged Beast and won, _you’re _the King of Dragons! How can he still be controlling them?” Hiccup wondered. It didn’t seem to make any sense, at least to him. 

*Giants have stronger Will than other dragons. It’s just something they can do. Lumina said the crystals would make it easy for me to command my subjects. They make my will stronger and my thought-speak louder, but I don’t really use them much. Beast must have used all the crystals to somehow call more dragons to the Hidden World and keep us here.*

So many questions rushed to the forefront of Hiccups mind. _What is Will? Is thought-speak how you’re talking right now? How do the crystals work? _“But why would he do that?” 

Toothless looked helpless. *I don’t know. He hasn’t challenged me to be Alpha again, but maybe this is why. Maybe he doesn’t think he needs to.* The dragon snarled in frustration. 

“…Well, maybe he was trying to help” Hiccup suggested, trying to be optimistic. “Maybe he doesn’t realise what he’s doing. If you explain it to him…” he said vaguely. Toothless nuzzled him again. “Don’t worry, bud. We’ll figure this out, okay? You get the dragons out, and I…I’ll let everyone know you’ll be back.” A thought occurred to him, and he sighed. “I won’t be able to understand you, after I wake up” he realised. “I wish I could. I like this.” 

*Me too* his friend crooned, and licked Hiccup as if to reassure himself. *Have you and Astrid mated yet?* he asked out of the blue. Hiccup blushed. *Why have you gone red?* 

“Because you-!” he spluttered. “Oh, never mind. Um, yeah…we got married. I guess you and – err, Lumina, you guys must have…d’you have, I mean, has she, y’know…laid eggs?” 

Toothless smiled happily. *Three, and they all hatched!* he told his human. *I got to name them. We have two daughters called Snowball and Magpie, and a son named Dauntless. I wanted to name him ‘Hiccup’, but she wouldn’t let me.* Hiccup found himself giggling. The world around them started to fade. Hiccup hugged Toothless again, wishing he could just stay suspended in that perfect moment forever. “I’ll see you soon” he whispered.

* * *

Hiccup woke up with a start. Nothing was out of place, Astrid was still in bed next to him. The dream hung vividly in his mind. A tiny doubt niggled at him; he slipped out of bed and went into the kitchen. There, on the floor, lay the tankard he’d dropped when that boy first appeared. “Okay, definitely getting on board with the magic idea” he murmured, unsettled. 

The first thing he did after getting ready was to get Astrid, his mother and Gobber together. They were the first people he wanted to break the news to, and he’d need their support. He took a deep breath and announced “This is going to sound crazy…but Loki turned up in my house last night and told me to get the dragons back. Turns out them leaving messed stuff up, all over the place, and now I’ve got to try and fix it. Although it’s not entirely our fault.” 

If Toothless was right, and it was Drago’s Bewilderbeast doing this…well, that rankled a bit. Hiccup wouldn’t accept all of the blame, but he would accept the responsibility. After all, as Valka once said, “_Only you can bring our worlds together.” _Speaking of his mother, she was staring at him as if worried he’d lost his mind, as were his wife and old mentor. He sighed. 

“Err, Hiccup?” Astrid began doubtfully, “Are you sure you didn’t just have an odd dream?” 

“It wasn’t a dream, Astrid. And even if it was, it meant something!” He couldn’t sit still. “Don’t you see? It was a mistake to send the dragons away, but now they’re coming back!” 

“How d’you know it was Loki that visited you?” Gobber wondered. “Did he tell you that?” 

The blacksmith was probably just humouring him, but Hiccup would take that. “Uh – well, no” he admitted. “It was a young boy. He said he was _me, _but different…only then he got older really quickly and he had red hair and sent me all over time and space so I kind of just assumed…” he trailed off at their stares. “What? Come on, who else could do all of that!” 

“I believe you, lad. Why, just t’other night I was visited by Freyr himself” Gobber smirked. 

Of course he’d not expected them to take his word for it, but Hiccup was starting to get annoyed. “I saw dad” he said bluntly. The grin vanished from Gobber’s face. Valka gasped. “I _talked _to him, and he talked to me. He told me to tell you it was an honour” Hiccup told Gobber. He turned to his mother and smiled at her. “Dad sends his love. To both of us.” 

Slowly, she shook her head. “Don’t” she begged in a whisper. “Hiccup, your father is…” 

“Gone” he finished for her, solemn. “I know. But it _was _him, mom. I – I can’t explain how I know that, but I just…_do_” Hiccup shrugged helplessly. “I saw you, too” he added to Astrid, who was watching him in concern. “Well, not really _you_ – but a younger version of you. She showed me the past, and then dad showed me the present. A _lot _more dragons went into the Hidden World than we realised, and it’s gonna cause chaos if they stay down there.” 

Hiccup met his wife’s eyes, resolute. “Astrid, please. I promise I haven’t gone crazy…well, no more than usual” he joked, trying to lighten the mood. “I don’t know what really happened last night, and maybe I never will. The one thing I do know is that I made a mistake, and I need to try and fix it, but I can’t do it on my own. So…are you with me?” 

Astrid smiled. “I don’t know where all this is coming from, babe, but I like it. I’m in.” His mother and Gobber confirmed their support as well. “What’re you gonna tell everyone?” 

“Nothing, just yet. I want to wait until the dragons return. You know what, let me start from the beginning…” said Hiccup. They gathered close, and he told them all that had transpired.

* * *

Toothless had confronted the Sea-Giant who called himself Beast, and gotten him to admit that he had, indeed, been summoning dragons to the Hidden World and making them not want to leave. Toothless demanded to know why. Beast regretted what he’d done when he obeyed Drago. He wanted to protect dragons, so he called them to the safety of the Hidden World. Toothless told him the dragons were safe from humans, but not from each other. 

It wasn’t just Beast who needed to be convinced; the dragons who had been living down here didn’t even believe there was an outside to go to! The Hidden World was the only one they’d ever known. So Toothless used the crystals to show them all the truth. There _was_ a world out there, and it was dangerous but it was amazing too, and the sky was endless. If any of them had come here from there, without knowing why, now they could all go home. 

When they’d first come here, his friends – Stormfly, Meatlug, Cloudjumper, and all the rest – had been furious with him. How _dare _he force them to come underground, after sending them all into cages? Toothless hadn’t wanted to leave – he had, but he hadn’t, and now he knew why – so he’d tried to explain why they needed to stay. Instead he’d been shunned, only shown respect as the alpha. It was as if he were a complete stranger to all of them. 

Toothless had been lonely, especially without his best friend. He’d turned to Lumina for support, and she was all too happy to give it. She helped him with his duties; there was only so much he could do with a prosthetic tail fin, after all. Lumina had even apologised for the misunderstanding that led her to attack Hiccup, first to defend herself, then to defend _him_. 

Now, when Toothless was on the cusp of leaving the Hidden World, she padded over to him and nuzzled under his chin. *Do you really have to go back there?* she asked him sadly. 

*I want to* he told her, *I miss Hiccup. I have since we came here. Besides, he needs me.* 

*I need you! Your human has his own family. What about ours?* she asked, gesturing with her snout at their three hatchlings playing and scuffling with each other in the nest hollow. 

Toothless purred at them fondly. *You can all come too* he told his mate. She looked sceptical. *I’m serious! Lu, don’t you see? We can all be one big family!* he said eagerly. *I know you’re not keen on humans. After what you went through, I can’t blame you for being skittish…but I promise, the humans on Berk won’t hurt you. They can be loud and smelly and annoying, but so can a lot of dragons. Please don’t tell anyone I said that* he added. 

She snorted a bit in amusement. *I trust you, Tooth* she sighed, *but I can’t help being scared…I know that horrible white furred human is gone, but he almost killed us! What if a human tries to hurt our babies? I’d never forgive myself if something happened to them.* 

*Neither would I* Toothless admitted, *but hunters can’t get to them on that island, and we can keep them safe. So will Hiccup. He loves dragons, he’ll love you and them as much as he loves me. I know he will. Just give him a chance* he begged. *You and Hiccup have a lot in common* said Toothless. *You both care about me and I care about both of you.* He nudged his nose towards the little ones. *Look at them, Lumina. Don’t you want to give them everything? Don’t you want to let them see the whole sky?* Toothless urged her. 

Lumina gazed at their hatchlings, all tuckered out. She remembered the stories their sire told them, about his adventures with his human. She thought about how the human – how Hiccup had been willing to die so Toothless could be saved. How he’d gotten that awful human off her back at last. Lumina had gone back and rescued him because she finally understood what they meant to each other. If Toothless trusted him, then couldn’t she? 

She nestled up against her mates’ side. *Okay. We’ll go. I can…try to learn to trust the humans, for your sake….and I’ll try not to fire any blasts at them if they startle me.* 

Toothless gurgled with laughter at that, and nuzzled her. *Thank you* he said gratefully.

* * *

Later that same day, Hiccup was overseeing the felling of some trees. Ostensibly they were for firewood over the winter, but he secretly hoped the timber would be used to build stables – just not in the village, but apart from it. He’d learned his lesson and then some. 

Suddenly, there came a shout of “Dragons in the sky! To the west!” Everyone stopped, then put down their tools and hurried to the cliff for a better look. There on the horizon, a flock of dragons. The one in the lead went into a steep dive. Hiccup broke into a sprinting run. 

He reached the cliff edge first, and skidded to a halt just as Toothless came in for a landing. For a moment, they just looked at one another. Then Toothless reared up on his hind legs, staggered forwards and embraced Hiccup hello, just as he’d hugged him goodbye a year prior. Beaming ear to ear, Hiccup returned the hug. “I missed you, too. Wow, you’re heavy.” 

All around him, the other villagers were reuniting with their own dragons. Shouts and roars of joy echoed off the cliffs. Toothless gave Hiccup the obligatory bath of dragon saliva, nuzzled him once more, and then stepped aside. Behind him stood the Light Fury. “Hello, Lumina” Hiccup greeted. She looked surprised to be addressed by name. Slowly, he held his palm out. After glancing at Toothless, who warbled encouragingly, she crept towards him. 

When she nudged her smooth snout against his palm, Hiccup let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “Welcome to Berk” he told her gently. Toothless warbled happily. 

“Hiccup!” his mother exclaimed, voice full of awe. He looked over at where she was pressed against Cloudjumper, Astrid nearby equally close to Stormfly. Then three heads popped up over the Stormcutters. Lumina called to them, and they scrambled or fluttered to the ground, scampering over to join their parents. One was white with black markings and green eyes, the others were both black with white markings, one blue eyed and one green. 

Hiccup had to keep himself from grinning. “_Babies_” he cooed, “hey, little guys…” Glancing at Lumina for permission, he held a hand out to them. The blue eyed one sniffed at his fingers, and then gnawed on them without teeth. “Heh, heh. Aww. You’re so cute it hurts. Ow.” He tugged his hand free and looked them over. “Let’s see…you must be Snowball” he said to the white hatchling, who chirped. “And you two must be Magpie and Dauntless, yeah?” 

Magpie had her dam’s blue eyes and Dauntless had green. He petted them some more, scratching lightly in all the spots he knew Toothless liked best. The baby Furies…Night or Light? Night Lights?...had no fear of him. They’d never seen a human before in their short lives and he was glad to be their first impression. Hiccup did his best to be extremely gentle with them, to put Lumina at ease and show her she could trust him with her offspring. 

Astrid came over to greet Toothless, who eagerly introduced her to his mate and children. Hiccup stood up and looked around, unable to stop smiling at the sight of everyone so happy. Then he blinked. There on the edge of the crowd was the small red haired boy.

He grinned at Hiccup, adjusted the crown on his head, and pet the small green dragon on his shoulder. Hiccup gave him a grateful nod, and in the next moment, the boy was gone.

* * *

The wind in his hair and the sun on his face was a delight; to touch the clouds again was a blessing. Hiccup closed his eyes in bliss and smiled. Toothless purred contentedly, gliding. 

It wasn’t just them who had taken to the skies at the first opportunity. Everyone had dug out old saddles and mounted up for a leisurely flight around the island. Well, leisurely for some; like Fishlegs, who was cuddling Meatlug in midair whilst the now-much-bigger Fishmeat buzzed around them. Snotlout and Hookfang were racing Eret and Skullcrusher. The twins were celebrating by blowing up clouds of Barf’s gas with Belch’s sparks. 

Hiccup opened his eyes again, still smiling. He didn’t think he could stop if he wanted to. He stroked Toothless’ head; his dragon glanced back at him, smiling too. A soft croon made them both look over to the left, where Lumina was flying alongside them. She stared curiously at Hiccups prosthetic. It wasn’t attached to anything; Toothless was wearing his auto-tail. Hiccup was impressed it had lasted this long, but he’d take a closer look later. 

Toothless purred at her. She looked at him, then at Hiccup. He smiled and waved at her a bit. Lumina gave a tentative, wobbly smile. It reminded him of when Toothless first tried to smile, a bit lopsided and awkward. Toothless warbled in delight and glided closer to nudge his wing tip against hers. She purred at him and looked over her shoulder at where Cloudjumper was carrying their hatchlings, who weren’t quite old enough to fly just yet. 

That didn’t stop Dauntless from jumping off the larger dragon before Valka could stop him. He flapped his wings madly, trying to get to his sire, only to drop like a stone. Lumina shrieked in alarm and dived to catch him, as did Toothless, but she reached the hatchling first. He crouched on her shoulders in a submissive huddle as his parents growled, scolding. 

Cloudjumper came up alongside them. Magpie and Snowball chattered mockingly at their brother, who snarled at them. Valka looked relieved, and apologetic. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think he was going to do that” she explained. “Dauntless is certainly well named, isn’t he?” 

Hiccup chuckled. “Yeah, well, he almost got named after me, and that would be just as fitting” he joked. They both jumped off dragons, after all. Speaking of which… “Hey, Toothless? D’you wanna…y’know”, he twirled his finger, “for old times sake?” The dragon rolled his eyes, but chuffed in agreement. “Don’t you kids try this, okay?” he warned them. 

Toothless barked to reinforce the order, even as Hiccup detached himself from the saddle. 

Valka’s eyes widened as she realised what her son was doing. “Hiccup, be careful!” 

He grinned at her and declared “I’ll be fine!” Then he let himself fall sideways and plummet. 

Lumina squawked in surprise, as did the Night Lights, but Toothless just flicked his tail and dived after his rider, catching up easily. They twirled around each other like orbiting stars. It was a shame Hiccup didn’t have his flight suit on – oh, he just _had _to rebuild it and show them he could (sort of) fly as well! He reached out to Toothless, who caught him as easily as if they’d never parted, and pulled out of the dive with a triumphant roar and delighted yell. 

“So, what d’you think?” Hiccup asked Lumina as they flew up to rejoin her and Valka. She crooned approvingly, and rolled underneath them, coming up on their other side. Dauntless was back with his sisters on Cloudjumpers’ back, grousing as they teased him mercilessly. 

Suddenly a blue and yellow blur flashed past, making Hiccup duck. Astrid grinned over her shoulder at him as Stormfly raced onwards, challenging. He smirked down at Toothless; the smirk that meant trouble, the smirk that meant ‘shall we?’ Toothless shook his wings out, called to Lumina and surged forwards to catch up to Stormfly. All three dragons, Nadder, Night Fury and Light Fury raced each other, climbing higher and higher into the bright sky.

* * *

The tribe of Berk threw a grand feast to celebrate the return of their dragons. Lumina wasn’t comfortable being in an enclosed space with so many humans, so Hiccup left the Fury family to explore the village. He had survived without Toothless for a year, and could accept that the dragon had a life of his own now. He got to his feet and called for attention. 

Nobody listened, of course. Rolling his eyes, Hiccup blew hard into a whistle. It was much more effective. “Right! Everyone, I have an announcement to make. The dragons are” – 

“You’re not sending them back, are you?” Gustav protested, from where he was sitting with Fanghook. “They just got here!” There were similar cries of denial from all over the Hall. 

“Guys. Guys! They’re staying!” Hiccup shouted over the noise. “The dragons are staying!” 

A great cheer went up. When it died down, Spitelout exclaimed “But _you’re _the one who told us we had to give them up in the first place! You said it was for their own good!” 

Hiccup nodded. “I know what I said, but if the dragons came back then I was wrong, and I’m sorry” he admitted. There was no point telling them he’d already known about this; his people wouldn’t believe it, and think he’d finally gone mad. Well, he might have. “So, I need to make a few things clear. First of all, the Light Fury. Her name is Lumina, and she’s _off-limits. _Got it? She’s a wild dragon who’s still getting used to us, so please don’t scare her.” 

Eret gave him a thumbs up. “We hear ya, Chief! No bothering the Light Fury.” Everyone murmured agreement. “Nice name, by the way. Astrid called her that, right?” he assumed. 

“…What makes you think I didn’t give her that name?” Hiccup questioned. He hadn’t, but still. 

“Well, cos no offence Chief, but you’d probably name her ‘Nubless’ or something” Eret replied. Astrid snickered, whilst her husband just looked indignant. Eret quickly sat down. 

“_Anyway. _Lumina is not to be disturbed, and the same goes for their hatchlings. Fishlegs, yes, I will try to arrange it so you can draw them for the Book of Dragons” he added. His scholarly friend beamed in relief. Ruffnut was sitting next to him, with Tuffnut next to her. 

“Hey, uh, Chief? Can I ask a question?” Tuffnut interrupted. Resisting the urge to say ‘you just did’, Hiccup nodded. “Uh, you said the dragons had to go to the Hidden World cos it’s safe, but now they’re not _in _the Hidden World, so does that mean it’s not safe?” he asked. 

It was a good question, coming from Tuffnut. Too good, in fact, and set off a barrage more. 

“We don’t even know why they came back! What if it’s just to visit and they leave again?” 

“What if hunters have found the Hidden World and now they’re all gonna hide up here?” 

“What if the hunters come for us again? What are we gonna do?” 

Seeing them getting hysterical, Hiccup sighed. _Hooligans._ He blew the whistle again. “Calm down! Toothless took me out there this afternoon, and no one else has found the Hidden World. The dragons there are safe, the dragons here are safe, everything’s fine! And no, there won’t be more coming. As for them leaving; if any of them do, that’s their choice. But I don’t think that’ll happen. They were just as happy to see us as we were to see them.” 

Everyone looked more relaxed at that, and he breathed a sigh of relief. “Right, where was I? Oh yeah…so, when that army came, I did my best to protect all of us. Vikings and dragons alike. And I know you weren’t all happy with my decisions, so I need to ask – did you guys agree because you trust me, or were you just going along with it because I’m the Chief?” 

A lot of muttering ensued. “Duh!” exclaimed Snotlout, “the Chief is _supposed _to tell us what to do! Y’know, I’d be much better at that – you should just let me be Chief” he boasted. 

Hiccup folded his arms. “So you were doing what I said because I’m the Chief.” 

“Yeah? So?” 

He canted an eyebrow. “Just like we always followed my dad’s orders to the letter.” 

“Exac- wait, uh…” 

“That’s what I’m saying. I mean, yes, you should listen to me…but I don’t want you guys to just blindly follow along. The truth is, I don’t always know best. And I know I’m not the best Chief, but” – Hiccup was about to continue when he was interrupted again, by Gobber this time. 

“Ah, give over! You sound like yer old man! _We’re_ not complaining, so don’t _you_ start!” 

Valka remarked, “I think what he’s trying to say is that none of us think you’re a bad Chief, son. We all know you want what’s best for the tribe, and the dragons” she reassured him. 

Astrid took a more direct approach. She stood up and declared, “Long live the Chief!” Another great cheer went up, and she gave her husband a wink. He smiled gratefully. 

Just one more thing to address – for now. “Okay, listen. There are still humans and dragons out there hurting each other, and we know what that’s like, and we know peace is possible. We need to make a stand, because if we don’t, who will? It’s not going to be easy, but come on, we’re Vikings. At the risk of sounding incredibly cliché, it’s an occupational hazard!” 

They all cheered and laughed at that. “We’re going to do things differently this time, though. For starters, if we rescue dragons, we won’t bring them all back here” he promised. Gobber cried out in relief, as did a few others. “And we should be making more allies, not enemies. So if people do come here for our dragons, we need to try and change their minds, not just burn their ships to the water and call it a day. To them, _we’re _the bad guys.” 

“Can we still blow up their ships if they keep attacking us?” Ruffnut asked eagerly. 

There was no safe answer to that question. “We’ll deal with that when it happens” Hiccup decided. “All I know for sure is that I’m not giving up anymore. I hope that in another three hundred years, the whole archipelago will be thriving, humans alongside dragons. We are going to win this war and build a better world, together, one battle at a time! For Berk!” 

The cheers and roars that went up were deafening. Hiccup felt much more confident now. _We’ve got this. _

* * *

Life went on, though not quite the same as before. Lumina was still unsure, and tended to avoid the village during the day when it was full of humans. Despite her reservations she was curious about all the odd things they did, often blending in to watch them undisturbed. Sometimes she came to Toothless with an object she’d found or stolen, dropping it in front of him and expectantly waiting to be told what it was. A pail, a rake, Gobber’s fake hand… 

The Night Lights were equally as curious, and unlike their dam had no qualms about getting close to humans in their inquisitive exploring. As time went on they proved to have similar personalities. Feisty, boisterous Snowball, always play-fighting with her brother, a little dragon tomboy. Sweet, curious Magpie, who loved shiny things like her namesake but would always defend her siblings. Bold, adventurous Dauntless, who was very acrobatic. 

Astrid and Hiccup had children of their own; first a daughter, whom they named Halla. She had her grandfather’s hair and her mother’s eyes, and would one day bond with Magpie. Then a son, whom they named Stoick II. He would go on to bond with Snowball. When Astrid fell pregnant a third time, they decided to name the baby Finn if it was a boy, and Freya if it was a girl. One day, Hiccup informed Astrid that he planned to write a book. 

“It’s gonna be about me and Toothless, how we met and stopped the war, all that stuff. And I’ll find a way to make more copies, so there’ll be a record after I’m gone, y’know?” 

“So, you’re basically writing your life story” Astrid remarked. “What’s the book called?” 

Hiccup shrugged. “I haven’t decided. Hey, what about ‘How I Trained My Dragon’?” 

She just gave him a doubtful look, and he sighed. “I’ll work on it.” Hiccup sat down at his desk and tried to decide how to start the first chapter – no, the prologue of his book. 

After a few moments thought, he wrote the words: _We fought dragons when I was a boy. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's that! Thanks for reading, and I hope you all enjoyed this ;) (And yes, I changed the kids names. Shoot me. 'Halla' is a nod to Valhallarama, and also a legit Old Norse name. The others should be self explanatory).


End file.
